Kim Klement Neitzel
How crazy do Eagles and Bengals games tend to be? The Eagles have two ties since the start of the 1998 season. Both have come against Cincinnati.
Andy Reid's Eagles tied the Bengals 13-13 in November of 2008, the day Donovan McNabb found out you could tie in the NFL.
Doug Pederson's Eagles tied the Bengals 23-23 in September of 2020, falling to 0-2-1 in one of the more miserable seasons in recent memory.
As On Pattison's John Foley pointed out earlier this week, the Eagles have never won a game in Cincinnati. They'll try to change their fortunes Sunday afternoon.
Here are predictions from our staff on how they believe the game will play out.
Tim Kelly
Score: Bengals 28, Eagles 20
Game MVP: Ja'Marr Chase
The Bengals aren't a perfect team right now, but they have enough offensive firepower to build a potentially insurmountable lead if the Eagles don't score in the first quarter for the seventh consecutive game.
Also, it concerns me that the Eagles' sole sources of offense seem to be explosive plays from A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley. Eventually, that can't be it. And if that is it, well, the Eagles are facing a team in Week 8 with Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and enough other weapons around Joe Burrow to go blow-for-blow, if not better.
Anthony SanFilippo
Score: Bengals 27, Eagles 19
Game MVP: Chase Brown
It’s one thing to get pressure on the Giants and Daniel Jones, it’s another to slow down the Bengals passing offense and Joe Burrow. Yes, the last two weeks that Cincy offense has been a bit inconsistent, but they also are coming home after two road games and could be a matchup nightmare for the Eagles defense. One guy who seems to be getting more responsibility for the Bengals is Chase Brown. The twin brother of Eagles safety Sydney Brown has double-digit rushes each of the last four games and also has four TDs in those games. With the Eagles focused on stopping the dangerous wideouts, look for Brown to frustrate them underneath.
Also, we still haven’t seen the Eagles offense click in the first quarter, so until they do, don’t expect a lot of points on offense - especially if they get behind and have to become more one-dimensional.
Eagles Haven't Defeated the Bengals in 24 Years@OnPattison https://t.co/v1fzXAr8aS
John Foley
Score: Bengals 34, Eagles 31
Game MVP: Joe Burrow
Burrow is throwing to some very talented receivers and he rarely gets sacked. It’s easy to picture him shredding the Birds’ defense. Maybe the Eagles’ offense can keep up. But Cincinnati also has some kind of devil magic going, winning—or, ugh, tying—every matchup with the Eagles in the past 24 years (and all the matchups ever out in Ohio).
Hopefully Sunday’s game breaks the curse. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Austin Krell
Score: Bengals 26, Eagles 17
Game MVP: Joe Burrow
I just don’t know what the pattern is with this group. They win two in a row out of the bye. They look terrible before the bye (reasonable, given injuries). They look terrible coming out of the bye. Then they stomp an CFL actually terrible team to restore some equity. But, I just don’t know what they are, and that will usually make me trend more towards disbelief than belief.
